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"Stop squabbling," I said. "It's too late for that now."
Camille nodded. "She's right. Delilah, call Chase. Unless you want me to do it?"
I let out a long sigh. "No, I will." But when I pulled out my cell, there was no available signal. Call it a hunch, but I had the feeling that they'd rigged it so all communication to the outside was limited to a strictly as-needed policy.
"I need access to a telephone, please," I said, shoving my cell back in my pocket.
>A sudden movement in the webs to our right alerted me, and I held up my hand. "Shush." As I leaned forward, I saw something scuttle off through the strands. I jumped up. "Let's go. Bring the body with us, and let's get the fuck out of here."
"Spiders?" Camille whispered. I nodded. Menolly picked up the body, and we hurried toward the front of the cave. On the way, I caught my heel on something and went sprawling.
"Shit." I sat up, rubbing my shin, pretty sure I'd roughed up the front of my leg. Camille offered me the flashlight. I'd tripped over a shield woven of bones that were tied together using leather strips. I grimaced and picked it up. "I think we'd better take this along with us," I said. "We might be able to learn something from it."
Camille nodded, grabbing it from me. She was less squeamish than I. "You're right," she said, making a face. "Let's get the hell out of here now. I don't want to end up like… well, whoever this poor fellow was."
Once we were back on the ledge, we faced the problem of getting down, but down is always easier than up. At least it's quicker. Camille slung the shield over her shoulder and clasped her arms around Menolly's waist.
"I hate heights," she muttered, closing her eyes, but there was no room for argument. We didn't know who—or what—had been in that cave besides us. There could be a pack of spiderlings on the way to shut us up right now.
"Tallyho and all that crap," Menolly said. Holding the corpse at arm's length, she stepped off the cliff, dragging Camille with her. Camille let out a little shriek, but the three of them floated down, albeit a little faster than if it had been Menolly alone. Watching Camille's pained expression, I found myself relieved that we hadn't brought Chase along. He handled our quirks better than most FBHs would be able to, but this little adventure might have been a bit much, even for him. It was almost too much for me.
Menolly guided them to the ground safely, however, and laid the body out. Her strength was growing, I thought as I skittered down behind them, half sliding, half rolling down the embankment. With every month she grew just a little bit stronger, a little bit edgier.
When we reached the bottom, we found Zachary and Morio . waiting for us. Venus, Ajax, and Tyler had taken Shawn's body back to the enclave.
"We need to talk," I said to Zach, nodding toward the path. "Let's get the hell out of here and into somewhere that's protected and light. You've got a real problem on your hands."
Zach was staring at the body that Menolly was holding. "Another one?" He swayed and reached to steady himself on a nearby boulder.
"Looks that way. You have any idea of anybody who might be missing? Somebody who hasn't already turned up dead?" Camille asked.
He shook his head, lips pressed together. "No. Let's get back to the main lodge." He offered to take the body from Menolly, but she waved him off.
"I can carry him… her… whoever it was, but Delilah's right. We need to get out of here now. It's not safe, even with all of us together." She set off toward the path, and we hurried behind her.
By the time we got back to the lodge, the snow was really piling up. I had the feeling that we were in for one hell of a winter. That in itself was curious. The weather around here was wet but not usually all that cold, and with all the global warming going on, winters should be getting milder, not worse. I hoped to high heaven we weren't in for some cockeyed version of Ragnarok.
Pushing thoughts of the weather aside, I focused on the task at hand as we hurried up the stairs and through the doors, into the warm light that shone down from the chandelier in the hallway.
The foyer was spacious, with brown marbled tiling that ran throughout the hallway. A large staircase of wide, smooth steps led up to a second, third, and fourth story. The railing was glossy white and trimmed with gold leaf. For all of their rough exterior, I had the feeling that the Puma Pride was an old moneyed clan. Towering fig trees graced both sides of the staircase, nestled in gigantic stoneware urns. A hall to the left and one to the right both led to sets of heavy double doors.
"Bring the body this way," Zach said. "Just be quiet. I don't want anybody knowing about this yet. We'll examine it in the den."
Menolly hurried behind him, carrying the dried shell. Camille, Morio, and I scurried behind, as Zach led us down the hall to the left set of doors. He peeked inside, then gestured for us to pass through. We found ourselves in another hallway.
"Through the door at the end," Zach said, rushing us along the corridor. He slid past to open the door for us. After making sure the room was empty, he stood back and let us enter.
The den was a library in every sense of the word, with floor-to-ceiling shelves lining the walls, a gigantic desk, a leather sofa, and several scattered recliners and ottomans. The wood was heavy, cherry by the look of it, and the craftsmanship detailed. Morio sat down on one of the footstools next to Camille.
Menolly laid the body on the sofa, while Zachary locked the door. He turned up the lights, and as we made ourselves comfortable, he slowly approached the dead man. Kneeling beside the sofa, he took a long look at the face. After a moment, he shook his head and turned back to us.
"I have no idea who that is. He isn't from our enclave, that I can tell you straight up."
"Well, hell. Maybe he was just cutting across your property? Is he wearing a hunter's vest?" We hadn't found a gun near him, but whoever killed him could have made off with the weapon, if there was one.
"No, it's a Windbreaker, but you could mistake it for one," Zach said. "We used to be forever chasing hunters off our land. By now, only strangers make the mistake of climbing our fences. He doesn't look like any of our neighbors. Damn. I haven't got a clue who he is. Was." He scratched his head and sat down behind the desk. "So, what did you find up there? What's that thing on your back?"
Camille pulled the shield off her back and laid it on the desk so we could take a closer look. The bones looked humanoid, most likely leg and arm bones, and they were laid out in a pattern that formed some sort of sigil. The dried leather straps were a familiar color that set my stomach to churning, I had a feeling it had come from the same source as the bones.
